ABSTRACT
Benoit and Dorries (1996) articulated a theory of persuasive attack centered on criticizing others for committing offensive acts. Benoit recently extended this theory to include strategies for attacks on character (2017; see also Benoit and Glantz, 2017). An attack on character, or character assassination, has two components (either one of which can be implicit in the attacking message): 1) assert the target possesses a trait and 2) argue that this trait is offensive. This typology is illustrated here with attacks on Donald Trump from Republican presidential primary candidates’ appearances on Face the Nation in 2016.
